“In order to break the oil blockade and ensure Hungary’s energy supply, new measures are now needed. Therefore, we will gradually stop supplying gas from Hungary to Ukraine, and we will store the remaining volume of gas inside the country. As long as Ukraine does not supply oil, it will not receive gas from Hungary,” he wrote in a social network.
Orban added that Hungary would keep the volumes of gas that are not supplied to Ukraine.
“Since Ukraine is also attacking the gas pipeline supplying Hungary from the south, we need to create reserves. Therefore, instead of supplying Ukraine, we will now fill Hungarian gas reservoirs,” the Hungarian prime minister explained.
According to him, these reserves will be useful for Hungary as Ukraine is also attacking the Turkish Stream gas pipeline. “As long as Ukraine does not supply oil, it will not get gas from Hungary,” Viktor Orban emphasized.
On March 5, the Hungarian prime minister said that Budapest would “break through by force” the Ukrainian oil blockade and apply financial and political tools to get supplies resumed. On 6 March, he said that Budapest would suspend the transit of gasoline and other supplies important for Kiev through its territory until Ukraine resumes pumping oil through the Druzhba pipeline.
The transit of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia via Druzhba stopped on January 27. Ukraine claimed a Russian drone strike on the pipeline infrastructure. The Hungarian and Slovak authorities accuse the Ukrainian authorities of stopping supplies for political reasons.
